Man arrested in NSW over New York death

A fugitive accused of beating to death a New York store owner and robbing him of $US32, 000 has been captured in Australia.

Abakar Gadiyev, 32, was arrested on Thursday in response to a request from the United States, a spokesman for the Attorney-General's department said.

DNA samples secretly swiped from Gadiyev's glasses and cigarettes during an investigation by the Australian Federal Police matched DNA from a mask used in the robbery.

Gadiyev and Arsen Bashirov, both citizens of the central Asian nation of Turkmenistan, allegedly robbed Brighton Beach storeowner Vladimir Tolstykh, 34, of a payroll bag containing $US32, 000 and then beat him to death on March 14, 2009, the New York Post reported.

"The defendant robbed and attacked the victim, a store owner, after lying in wait for him in his parking garage," said a Brooklyn District Attorney memo obtained by the newspaper.

"The police conducted a lengthy investigation which led them to Gadiyev who had fled to Australia and Bashirov who had fled to Turkmenistan."

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The AFP tailed Gadiyev to gather DNA left behind on items such as glasses and cigarettes so they could send the DNA samples across the Pacific Ocean to the New York Police Department NYPD for analysis.

"The evidence they sent us matched the mask," a police source said.

Gadiyev was applying to become an Australian citizen, police sources said.